Hawthorne Heights Brings ’20 Years of Tears’ at Fillmore Detroit
Hawthorne Heights brought their friends out to Fillmore Detroit on July 1 to celebrate 20 years of rockin’ in the Emo genre, featuring Emery, Armor For Sleep, Anberlin, and I See Stars.
EMERY
Emery was a band that many of us were introduced to on samplers back in the day with their song “Studying Politics,” and we’re so glad we were able to re-examine the band as they’ve expanded their catalog over the years. It is interesting to see bands that have been around since your teen years, and see how their voices have matured. Lead singer Toby Morrell even brought his daughters to the show, and you could see them side stage watching their dad do what he does best.
The ferocity award goes to Josh Head, who rocks keyboards and electronics, and also contributes to vocals. At one point, he bounced the mic stand off some equipment, and jumped into the photo pit, hit the barricade, and sang to the audience. Later on in the show, he also got into the crowd, with fans propping up his legs, standing amongst the sea of people, clinching the most active band of the night in terms of their overall performance.
Check out the full setlist here:
ARMOR FOR SLEEP
This was Armor For Sleep‘s second time at the Fillmore Detroit within the last few months, which is a thrill for Armor For Sleep fans who may have missed the May 1 date. As someone who grew up within their height of popularity, the albums ‘Dream To Make Believe,’ and ‘What To Do When You Are Dead’ are common staples in the niche Emo-Rock category of the 2000’s, and make up most of the setlist, with a heavier emphasis on the latter album.
Armor For Sleep’s full setlist was not uploaded online, but from what we recall from the catalog, we’ve chosen the Chicago Salt Shed playlist as we think it’s either identical or close to being exact. You can view that here:
ANBERLIN
Anberlin is a band we’ve never been able to catch within our years of coverage, and while the full band wasn’t there, noted by the “Anberlin?” backdrop behind the drum kit, they still kicked ass. The drummer, whose name we did not catch, was actually the brother-in-law of Anberlin’s real drummer, and Stephen Christian was also not present.
We were surprised to see Matty Mullins come out on stage from Memphis May Fire, and we later were told that he stepped into the lead singer role of this part of the tour. We love Matty’s charismatic attitude, and he shared on stage that he’s been a fan of Anberlin for so long that it was an honor for him to be asked to fill in for Stephen Christian, who according to Loudwire, has taken a hiatus from the band as of October 2023.
With how much harder their tones sounded in person, we wonder if the band has expanded a bit on how they play given being fronted temporarily by Matty. Still, everyone in the crowd we talked to was positive about the switch-up, even if they were out of the loop and surprised by the change.
Check out the full setlist here:
HAWTHORNE HEIGHTS
Hawthorne Heights is killing it in the 2020’s, and if I may be so bold, I feel they are kicking more ass now than they did back in the day. While this mini-traveling fest is technically theirs, they decided to lower themselves on the lineup and let I See Stars take the headliner slot as it was their hometown. Still, Hawthorne Heights put on the best show they possibly could, and as this writer has seen them more than once, we have data to support that.
Lead singer J.T. Woodruff speaks to the crowd as if they are old friends, with the positivity and knowledge of an Elder Emo that’s been through it. He spoke about the non-positive friends in your life, and brought up the toxicity that could cause, and was overall relatable to the audience speaking about these tender topics, as well as talking about how we’re “delightfully mundane” we are all, being from the midwest.
Before going into “Silver Bullet,” J.T said the following message to encourage fans to keep fighting for their art:
“So this song was the first time any record label ever said said ‘You know what? This band from this small town in Ohio sounds pretty fuckin good.’ It just shows you that every once in a while, you just need a little tiny spark… a little tiny spark… So we hope tonight we can be that little spark for you… and if you know someone who’s an artist, or struggling in any way, be that spark for them, be positive, be the one that can make them continue to keep fighting for their art. Maybe it’s your friend, maybe it’s your family, maybe it’s fucking you, maybe you need to look in the mirror and say ‘You know what? I have this! I got this!’ This song’s for you.”
Their set highlighted ‘The Silence in Black and White’ which is the album that they are going to be performing in full at When We Were Young Festival in Las Vegas this October, and we can’t wait to witness what nuggets of wisdom he shares there. Check out the full setlist here:
I SEE STARS
I See Stars got the hometown treatment by headlining the entire night for the eager Michigan fans for their first show at Fillmore Detroit. The band came to the stage with a ferocity, one that we’ll get to witness again on July 20 at Upheaval Festival in Grand Rapids.
This was our first time catching the band, so we were in awe of their performance style, as well as catching songs like “D4MAGE DONE,” which is a killer workout track, if we do say so ourselves. If you’re heading to Upheaval this year, wet your whistle with these tracks from their setlist below.